Wood Density: Functional Trait in Plants

Dr. Jose Kallarackal - Presently a Consultant Scientist, received his doctorate from the University of Delhi and taught undergraduate courses in Botany in the same University for 6 years. He did his post-doctoral research at the University of New England, Armidale, Australia and University of Bayreuth, Germany. He was scientist and program coordinator at the Kerala Forest Research Institute, India for 21 years during which time he did several national and international projects on tree physiology and ecophysiology of tropical and temperate forests. He was a recipient of the Royal Society (London) Commonwealth Bursary, Australian Research Grants Associateship, Crawford Foundation Fellowship, International Timber Trade Organisation Fellowship (Japan), JICA (Japan) International Fellowship, and the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship (Germany). Using the above fellowship, he has collaborated with several international groups working in the forest ecophysiology in Germany, Australia, New Zealand, China, etc. He has published two books related to impact of climate change on plants. Also, he is the author of several international publications in reputed journals. He has been a visiting scientist at the University of Bayreuth (Germany), University of Kassel (Germany), Landcare Research (NZ) and a speaker in several national and international conferences.

Fernando Ramirez Lopez - Presently an Independent Researcher. He studied biology as an undergraduate and received his Master´s degree in Biological Sciences at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia. He has been investigating the reproductive physiology of tropical crops such as mango, tree tomato, lulo, and uchuva. He has coauthored several books and research manuscripts in the field of tropical plant biology.